Meet the Most Ignorant Politician in America

On the first Sunday of the NFL season, the football topic that I’m finding myself most passionate about is the letter Maryland legislator Emmett C. Burns, Jr. sent to owner of the Baltimore Ravens. On the first read, it’s ignorant. On reflection, it’s dangerous.

Some background for those who missed it: Maryland has a marriage equality referendum on the ballot this November, which Ravens linebacker Brandon Ayanbadego publicly supports. Enter Burns, a Baltimore Democrat and same sex marriage opponent who, for whatever reason, felt so threatened by Ayanbadego’s advocacy, that he wrote his employer, Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti. Burns’ three paragraph missive found it “inconceivable” that Ayanbedego would “publicly endorse Same Sex marriage” and requested that "he take the necessary action, as a National Football Franchise Owner, to inhibit such expressions from your employee and that he be ordered to cease and desist such injurious actions.” When Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe, defending his fellow NFL player, wrote a polemic response to Burns, the letter went viral this weekend.

Ultimately, this incident isn’t about marriage equality. I support it strongly, but good people can disagree.

And it isn’t strictly about the First Amendment. Yes, it’s disgusting that a state legislator who purports to have a PhD knows nothing of his constituents’ free-speech rights (or the proper use of capital letters), but he’s far from the only ignorant, hypocritical politician in America.

For me, it’s about power and business, and the idea of an important elected official leaning on a private employer to muzzle his worker. Burns is a member of the state’s Economic Matters committee – and its BusinessRegulation subcommittee. He represents Baltimore County in the legislature. The Baltimore Ravens are one of biggest, most influential businesses in Baltimore County. So when Burns asks this business’ owner – on official legislature letterhead – what he intends to do about the free expression of his employee, using ominous legal language (“cease and desist,” “injurious actions”) and bluntly demanding, in a final, single sentence, that the owner provide him “an immediate response,” I shudder.

Earlier this summer, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino foolishly told a business, Chick-Fil-A, that it wasn’t welcome in his town because of the company’s political advocacy. He was lambasted and rightly so. This incident is far worse: Menino was targeting an organization, not an individual, and it was a theory not a threat, since there are not a single Chick-Fil-A in Boston.While repugnant, it was political blathering.

Burns’ Gestapo tactic goes a level further, and it should make any business owner wince. When Senate candidate Todd Akin made his moronic “forcible rape” comments, he was rightly ostracized by the Republican establishment. And that was for an extemporaneous (though consistent with earlier sentiments) answer to a question from a TV reporter. Burns’ idiocy was premeditated. He conjured the need for the letter, drafted it, sent it, and demanded a follow-up from a business he ultimately regulates.

Burns’ term is up in 2014, and he sits in a rubber-stamp district controlled by the party machine (in 2010, the Democrats put up a slate of three candidates for three legislative seats – the token Republican got about 6% of the vote). If Maryland Democrats believe in free speech and the rights of business, he won’t be overseeing regulation during the next legislative term – and he won’t carry his party’s banner when he's up for election.